In the midst of the latest round of lay-offs at Amazon affecting over 16,000 of its employees, it doesn’t look like its Amazon Game Studios division will be escaping unscathed. As reported by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, division chief Christoph Hartmann is allegedly leaving the company. This departure is seemingly part of the company’s larger plans to shift away from PC and console game development to focus on its cloud gaming service, Amazon Luna. Hartmann, who joined Amazon Game Studios in 2018 as its lead, hasn’t yet confirmed his resignation from the company.
According to Reuters, Amazon’s new round of lay-offs represents 10 percent of its corporate workforce, which doesn’t take into account employees at fulfillment centers and warehouses. It is part of the company’s efforts at “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.” Interestingly, these lay-offs won’t really hit Amazon Game Studios itself, with the focus being on retail, Amazon Web Services, Prime Video, and human resources.
Amazon Game Studios faced a major round of job cuts back in October as part of larger lay-offs affecting more than 14,000 employees at the company. Due to this development on MMORPG New World: Aeternum had been stopped, with the Season 10 update being its final one. While servers for the MMO will remain live until January 31, 2027, the game itself has been delisted from online storefronts, preventing others from checking it out during its final year.
“We want to thank the players for your dedication and passion,” wrote the studio on its official blog. ”We are grateful for the time spent crafting the world of Aeternum with you. Together, we built something special. While we are saddened to say goodbye, we’re honored that we were able to share so much with the community.”
With the servers going down next year, Amazon Game Studios has also confirmed that the in-game store in New World: Aeternum will be taken down on July 20, 2026, which in turn will prevent players from buying any more Marks of Fortune. Refunds also won’t be issued for any purchased Marks.
While no new content is in the works for New World: Aeternum, the studio has noted that it will continue to provide support for the game through patches, fixing any notable bugs or other issues that might pop up in the meantime.
“It has been our pleasure to work on New World: Aeternum and evolve this unforgettable adventure with you all. We look forward to one more year together, and giving this fantastic adventure a sendoff worthy of a legendary hero. From the bottom of all our hearts, thank you for sharing this world with us,” said the development team in its announcement.
New World: Aeternum served as a major reset for the floundering MMORPG, having come out in October 2024. Thanks to Aeternum, New World was able to target consoles alongside its original PC release. It also introduced a new main story that would take players from level 1 to 65, with a larger focus on worldbuilding and storytelling. For more details, check out our review of New World: Aeternum.
BREAKING: Amazon Game Studios boss Christoph Hartmann (formerly head of 2K) is leaving the company, Bloomberg News has learned, as Amazon continues its retreat from the PC and console video-game space in favor of its cloud gaming service Luna.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2026-01-28T17:41:15.844Z
